Claude Opus 4 vs Claude Opus 4.5

Side-by-side benchmark comparison across coding, math, reasoning, speed, and pricing.

Claude Opus 4.5 by Anthropic wins on 13 of 16 benchmarks against Claude Opus 4 by Anthropic, which leads on 1. This head-to-head comparison covers coding, math, reasoning, speed, and pricing metrics from our benchmark data.

Category-by-Category Breakdown

General Intelligence: In general intelligence, Claude Opus 4.5 scores 1468 on Chatbot Arena ELO compared to Claude Opus 4's 1375, while Claude Opus 4.5 scores 89.5% on MMLU-Pro compared to Claude Opus 4's 83.0%, while Claude Opus 4.5 scores 90.0% on IFEval compared to Claude Opus 4's 88.0%.

Coding: In coding, Claude Opus 4.5 scores 92.0% on HumanEval+ compared to Claude Opus 4's 90.0%, while Claude Opus 4.5 scores 80.9% on SWE-bench Verified compared to Claude Opus 4's 72.5%, while Claude Opus 4.5 scores 70.0% on LiveCodeBench compared to Claude Opus 4's 60.0%.

Math: In math, Claude Opus 4.5 scores 90.0% on MATH compared to Claude Opus 4's 86.0%, while Claude Opus 4.5 scores 96.5% on GSM8K compared to Claude Opus 4's 95.0%.

Reasoning: In reasoning, Claude Opus 4.5 scores 87.0% on GPQA Diamond compared to Claude Opus 4's 79.6%, while Claude Opus 4.5 scores 57.0% on ARC-AGI compared to Claude Opus 4's 45.0%.

Context: In context, both score 200K on Context Length.

Pricing Comparison

Claude Opus 4 costs $15.0/1M input tokens and $75.0/1M output tokens, while Claude Opus 4.5 costs $5.0/1M input and $25.0/1M output. Claude Opus 4.5 is the more affordable option for API usage.

Speed Comparison

Claude Opus 4 generates output at 50 tok/s compared to Claude Opus 4.5's 50 tok/s, and the time to first token is 550 ms for Claude Opus 4 versus 1700 ms for Claude Opus 4.5. Both models offer similar output speed.

Verdict

Claude Opus 4.5 leads across the board in coding, general intelligence, math, affordability, making it the stronger overall choice in this comparison.

Claude Opus 4 vs Claude Opus 4.5 — FAQ

Which is better, Claude Opus 4 or Claude Opus 4.5?

Claude Opus 4.5 wins on more benchmarks overall (13 vs 1). However, the best choice depends on your specific needs — each model excels in different areas.

How does Claude Opus 4 compare to Claude Opus 4.5 for coding?

Claude Opus 4.5 is better for coding, scoring 80.9% on SWE-bench Verified compared to 72.5%. SWE-bench tests real-world software engineering by resolving actual GitHub issues.

Is Claude Opus 4 cheaper than Claude Opus 4.5?

Yes, Claude Opus 4.5 is cheaper. Claude Opus 4 costs $15.0/1M input and $75.0/1M output tokens. Claude Opus 4.5 costs $5.0/1M input and $25.0/1M output tokens.

Which is faster, Claude Opus 4 or Claude Opus 4.5?

Both models generate output at the same speed of 50 tok/s.

What benchmarks does the Claude Opus 4 vs Claude Opus 4.5 comparison cover?

This comparison covers 16 benchmarks including Chatbot Arena ELO, MMLU-Pro, HumanEval+, IFEval, MATH, GPQA Diamond, SWE-bench Verified, Output Speed, and more. Metrics span general intelligence, coding, math, reasoning, speed, and cost categories.